There’s breaking news in the controversy over the possible closing of low-cost spay-neuter clinics in Alabama by the state veterinary board, a story covered recently by Weld Local, Black and White and many other outlets.

Five Alabama senators have asked that the state’s four low-cost spay and neuter clinics be allowed to remain in business until the issue can be taken up again in the 2013 legislative session.

According to Jean Cole of The News Courier in Athens, Ala., Sen. Bill Holtzclaw, R-Madison, made public today an October 4 letter in which he and four other senators asked the Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (ASBVME) to refrain from voting on a rule change that would all but close the state’s four low-cost, nonprofit spay and neuter clinics.

According to Cole, the state Veterinary Medical Association, which represents about 75 percent of the state’s vets,  has also written a letter to the ASBVME asking members to delay action.

The ASBVME is scheduled to meet in Montgomery tomorrow, October 10, at 9 a.m. to discuss changes to state rules.